Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to networks and, in particular, to an automated configuration of a software defined network (SDN) controller.
Description of the Related Art
As software defined networking (SDN) is deployed, there is a need to transfer configuration information from currently deployed network devices (such as, for example, switches, routers, firewalls, and so forth) to SDN controllers. For example, consider a set of Ethernet switches that are configured to support a set of Virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs), each associated with a set of switch ports. When an SDN controller is deployed to control these switches, there is a need to configure the controller with the VLAN information in order to maintain the correct behavior of the switches with regard to the VLANs.
There are many types of configuration information that can be involved in a SDN. For example, such configuration information can relate, but is not limited to, any of the following: VLANs; Quality of Service (QoS); Internet Protocol (IP) routing; Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP); Simple Network Management Protocol; and so forth. Currently, the process of transferring such configuration information from one or more deployed network devices to a SDN controller must be performed manually. This is a time consuming and error-prone process.